But in the lines at the polls, voters were palpably excited at the chance to decide their country’s path in the vote, which is the fruit of last year’s stunning popular revolt that overthew Mubarak after 29 years in power. For the past 60 years, Egypt’s presidents running unchallenged have largely been re-affirmed in yes-or-no referendums that few bothered to vote in.

Mohammed Salah, 26, emerged grinning from a poll station, fresh from casting his ballot. “Before, they used to take care of that for me,” he said. “Today, I am choosing for myself.”

Medhat Ibrahim, 58, who suffers from cancer, had tears in his eyes. “I might die in a matter of months, so I came for my children, so they can live,” he said, waiting to vote in a poor Cairo district. “We want to live better, like human beings.”

Adding to the drama, this election is up in the air. The reliability of polls is unsure, and four of the 13 candidates candidates have bounced around the top spots, leaving no clear single front-runner. None is likely to win outright in Wednesday and Thursday’s balloting, so the top two vote-getters enter a run-off June 16-17, with the victor announced June 21.

The two secular front-runners are both veterans of Mubarak’s regime — former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq and former foreign minister Amr Moussa.

The main Islamist contenders are Mohammed Morsi of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood and Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, a moderate Islamist whose inclusive platform has won him the support of some liberals, leftists and minority Christians.

The debate went right up to the doorsteps of schools around the country where polls were set up.

Some voters backed Mubarak-era veterans, believing they can bring stability after months of rising crime, a crumbling economy and bloody riots. Others were horrified by the thought, believing the “feloul” — or “remnants” of the regime — will keep Egypt locked in dictatorship and thwart democracy.

Islamists, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, saw their chance to lead a country where they were repressed for decades and to implement their version of Islamic law. Their critics recoiled, fearing theocracy.

Some saw an alternative to both in a leftist candidate, Hamdeen Sabahi, who has claimed the mantle of Egypt’s first president, the populist Gamal Abdel-Nasser.

An Islamist victory, particularly by Morsi, will likely mean a greater emphasis on religion in government. His Muslim Brotherhood, which already dominates parliament, says it won’t mimic Saudi Arabia and force women to wear veils or implement harsh punishments like amputations. But it says it does want to implement a more moderate version of Islamic law, which liberals fear will mean limitations on many rights.

Many of the candidates have called for amendments in Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel, which remains deeply unpopular. None is likely to dump it, but a victory by any of the Islamist or leftist candidates in the race could mean strained ties with Israel and a stronger stance in support of the Palestinians in the peace process.

The candidates from the Mubarak’s regime — and, ironically, the Brotherhood, which has already held multiple talks with U.S. officials — are most likely to maintain the alliance with the United States.

A looming question is whether either side will accept victory by the other. Islamists have warned of new protests if Shafiq wins, which they say can only happen by fraud. Many are convinced the ruling military wants a victory by Shafiq, a former air force commander.

“Over my dead body will Shafiq or Moussa win. Why not just bring back Mubarak?” said Saleh Zeinhom, a merchant backing Abolfotoh. “I’m certain we’ll have a bloodbath after the elections cause the military council won’t hand power to anyone but Shafiq.”

Shafiq was met by several dozen protesters screaming “down with the feloul” as he arrived to vote in an upscale neighborhood east of Cairo. Some protesters showed their contempt by holding up their shoes in his direction.

Shafiq, who was Mubarak’s last prime minister until he too was forced out of his post by protests, has been openly disparaging of the pro-democracy youth groups who led the anti-Mubarak uprising. Critics view him as too close to the generals who took over from Mubarak and whose own reputation is tainted by human rights abuses and authoritarian tendencies.

But with his strongman image, he has appealed to Egyptians who crave stability and fear Islamists.

“The country is going under. We need a president that implements justice and brings back security. Bottom line,” said Essam el-Khatib, a government employee voting in the Cairo suburb of Maadi.

Nearby another man, Sayed Attiya, shouted, “What Shafiq? We didn’t have a revolution to bring back Shafiq!”

The Muslim Brotherhood, meanwhile, faced a backlash of its own.

The group was the biggest winner in parliament elections late last year, winning nearly half the seats. But it disillusioned some by seeming too power hungry, demanding to be allowed to form a government and trying to dominate a panel created to draft a new constitution. The panel was scrapped and the process of writing the vital new charter is on hold as politicians struggle over forming a new one.

The image it has cultivated as an advocate of tolerance and piety was damaged by its campaign to discredit Abolfotoh, who quit the Brotherhood to run for president, and its edict that it is a sin to vote for anyone not advocating implementation of Islamic Shariah law.

Outside a polling station in the village of Ikhsas, outside Cairo, a group of neighbors got into a friendly but frank debate.

“I voted Brotherhood for parliament but I find they are inflexible in their opinions and want to take everything. I can’t now find them in the country’s top job,” Bassem Saber, a 31-year-old accountant dressed in the traditional local robes, told the circle of men. He now backs Abolfotoh.

Khaled el-Zeini, a Brotherhood backer, said people were being unfair.

Fares Kamel, a local trader, interjected with a shout against the Brothers, “We loved them and wanted them but we realized they are all about monopolizing power.”

But the group has a powerful electoral machine.

In the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, Brotherhood vans ferried women supporters to the polls in the poor neighborhood of Abu Suleiman, one of the group’s strongholds. The women, in headscarves or covered head to toe in black robes and veils that hid their faces, filed into the station.

“I want to give the Brotherhood a chance to rule,” said Aida Ibrahim, a veteran Brotherhood member who was helping voters find their station. “If it doesn’t work, they will be held accountable,” she said.

Some Brotherhood supporters cited the group’s years of providing charity to the poor — including reduced-price meat, and free medical care.

“Whoever fills the tummy gets the vote,” said Naima Badawi, a housewife sitting on her doorstep watching voters in Abu Sir, one of the many farming villages near the Pyramids being sucked into Cairo’s urban sprawl.

There were only a few reports of overt violations of election rules Wednesday, mainly concerning candidates’ backers campaigning near polling stations. Three international monitoring organizations, including the U.S.’s Carter Center, were observing the vote. Former President Jimmy Carter, the center’s head, visited a polling station in the ancient Cairo district of Sayeda Aisha.

The election’s winner will face a monumental task. The economy has been sliding as the key tourism industry dried up — though it starting to inch back up. Crime has increased. Labor strikes have proliferated.

And the political turmoil is far from over. The generals who took over from Mubarak have promised to hand authority to the election winner by the end of June. But many fear it will try to maintain a considerable amount of political say. The fundamentals of Mubarak’s police state remain in place, including the powerful security forces.

“We will have an elected president but the military is still here and the old regime is not dismantled,” said Ahmed Maher, a prominent activist from the group April 6, a key architect of last year’s 18-day uprising against Mubarak.

“The pressure will continue,” he said. “People have finally woken up. Whoever the next president is, we won’t leave him alone.”

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Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb, Maggie Michael and Matt Ford in Cairo and Aya Batrawy in Alexandria, Egypt, contributed to this report.

“It will take years before the military and civilians learn how to work together,” said Michael W. Hanna, an Egypt expert from the Century Foundation in New York. “The generals don’t want to rule, but they have a dim view of civilians. And there are things they are unlikely to budge on — things they want to have a say in, like national security.”

All of Egypt’s four presidents since the overthrow of the monarchy in a 1952 coup have come from the military. The nation’s most powerful institution, the military has over the years built a seemingly unshakable image as a bastion of patriotism and the defender of the nation.

Retired generals have consistently been given top government jobs as Cabinet ministers, ambassadors, provincial governors, chairmen of key state-owned firms or key posts in the private sector. Combined with the powers of the president, a loyal police force and a coterie of very wealthy businessmen, they have held a stranglehold on Egypt.

High on the list of their worries is whether the armed forces’ budget will be subjected to public debate in the legislature, currently dominated by Islamists, most of whom are at sharp odds with the military.

There is also the question of whether the military’s vast economic interests — giant construction companies, farms, water-bottling facilities and a nationwide chain of gas stations — would come under civilian oversight or be forced to compete for lucrative government contracts like everyone else.

Already, a member of the ruling military council has sternly warned that anyone who tries to touch the military’s economic interests would be harshly dealt with.

One more source of concern is whether the next president would have the authority to pension off top brass after they reach the retirement age of 60. Many members of the ruling military council are well into their 60s or 70s.

None of these problems publicly surfaced under Mubarak, a career air force officer who allowed the military to freely pursue economic interests and accepted counsel from his defense minister on army promotions and retirement in return for the generals’ support throughout his 29-year rule.

Confining the military’s role to the defense of the nation has been a main demand by the pro-democracy groups who engineered the anti-Mubarak uprising and later called for the military to step down. Some want the generals to be put on trial to answer for alleged crimes during their rule, including the killing of peaceful protesters, torturing detainees and putting civilians on trial before military tribunals, including icon figures from the protest movement.

“Free and fair elections and the installation of a civilian president would be a step in the right direction,” said Samer S. Shehata, an Egypt expert from Georgetown University. “It will be the first step in the retreat, or hopefully the removal, of the military from executive power.”

Mubarak, the generals’ mentor, is on trial for his life on charges of complicity in the killing of nearly 900 protesters during the uprising, as well as corruption. The 84-year-old former president is to be sentenced on June 2.

Perhaps with Mubarak’s ordeal in mind, the military recently won protection for all personnel, whether retired or in active service, from being put on trial in civilian courts.

Publicly, the generals say they have no wish to remain in politics and would step down immediately if they could. Any talk of wanting to hold on to power is baseless, they say.

They have not shied away from singing their own praises, but their infrequent public appearances have meant they had to rely on a powerful state media, as well as influential journalists and several loyal private television stations to promote them as the nation’s faithful sons.

“The military and bureaucracy are the pillars of the state of Egypt,” commentator Gamal Abolhassan wrote in Sunday’s online edition of the independent al-Shorouk daily. “Without them, Egypt would have certainly slid into complete chaos.”

But it was under the military’s watch, say critics, that Egypt has seen a surge in crime, the loss of half the country’s foreign reserves as the economy faltered and the kind of disasters thought unimaginable just a little more than a year ago— including the deaths in February of more than 70 soccer fans in a riot as police stood by and watched.

The 13 candidates contesting the Wednesday-Thursday election include Islamists, liberals and two with military backgrounds, among them a retired air force commander who was Mubarak’s last prime minister.

No outright winner is expected to emerge from the two-day vote, so a runoff is scheduled for June 16-17 between the two top finishers.

The election is the last stop in a turbulent transitional period before the generals hand back power by July 1 as they promised soon after Mubarak’s ouster in last year’s 18-day popular uprising.

Media leaks over the past week of an impending “constitutional declaration” sponsored by the military to give it vast powers and defining those of the next president have sparked fears the generals are trying to create “a state within the state.”

The leaks prompted party leaders to enter emergency negotiations to try to come up with a constitutional declaration of their own. Meanwhile, the military has remained publicly silent on the issue.

Despite the controversy, the race’s front-runners have apparently decided not to heighten tension with the military, at least for now.

Rights lawyer Khaled Ali was the only candidate to address the issue at a news conference called Monday to voice fears over any such constitutional declaration which, if issued, would serve as an interim charter pending the drafting of a permanent constitution.

The military, meanwhile, sought on Monday to head off any post-election unrest, reassuring Egyptians that it has no favorite in the race and that voters will decide the next president.

“It is important that we all accept the election results, which will reflect the free choice of the Egyptian people, bearing in mind that Egypt’s democratic process is taking its first step and we all must contribute to its success,” the ruling military council said in a statement.

There has been widespread speculation that the military favors Ahmed Shafiq, the former air force commander who served as Mubarak’s civil aviation minister for 10 years before he named him prime minister in his final days in power.

A front-runner whose support has significantly risen in opinion polls in recent days, Shafiq’s name is tainted by his links to Mubarak. Islamists have threatened massive protests if he is elected and contend that he could only win if the vote was rigged.

Then again, most of the 50 million eligible voters will probably be looking for more modest returns — chiefly some peace and quiet after more than a year of turmoil, bloody protests, a falling economy and rising crime.

Whoever wins, “I want him to see to the security and safety problem first,” said Abdel-Rahman Shaker, a 55-year-old private security guard in Cairo. “If there is security, then we will have a better economy and production. I am looking out for my kids. I am working now, but we want a better life for our kids.”

However, the new chapter to be opened by this election is likely to be just as tumultuous, facing contentious issues that no one has dealt with since Mubarak’s fall: the economy, the role of Islam, the future of democracy, the relationship with the U.S., Egypt’s longtime backer, and the fate of the historic 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Egypt mirrors the chaotic trajectories that the Arab Spring revolts have taken after an initial burst of optimism that long repressed populations across the region could replace dictators with democracy.

The transition in Tunisia, the first nation to rise up in late 2010, has been the smoothest, with elections and a start to writing a new constitution. Post-Gadhafi Libya is torn among militias. Yemen’s leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh, stepped down earlier this year but remains a shadow power. Syria has turned into a bloodbath. Bahrain, a vital U.S. ally and home to the U.S. Navy in the region, still suffers spasms of sectarian violence.

In Egypt itself, the 15 months since Mubarak’s ouster have been defined by deadly street clashes over demands by protesters whose demands range from minority Christian rights through the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to the departure from power of the generals who have run the country since Mubarak stepped down.

Well over 100 people have been killed in these clashes, including at least nine this month when protesters were attacked by armed men suspected to be supporters of the military.

At the same time, Egyptians are reveling in a new world of combative, televised politics, flesh-pressing politicians, presidential debates, rallies and hecklers.

“God and the people will guarantee that the next president will stay the course. If he does something wrong, we will kick him out,” said Al-Sayed Hassan Eid, a 65-year-old worker at a Cairo orphanage. “People are now aware. Before we couldn’t speak or open our mouth. There was state security who threatened to arrest us if we speak.”

“The era of fear is now over,” he said.

None of the 13 candidates is likely to top 50 percent in voting Wednesday and Thursday, so a runoff vote is set for June 16-17. A president will be announced June 21, and the generals promise to yield power by July 1.

On the secular side, front-runners are Amr Moussa, Mubarak’s foreign minister for 10 years, and Ahmed Shafiq, a former Air Force commander and civil aviation minister whom Mubarak made prime minister during his last days in power.

On the Islamist side are Mohammed Morsi for the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s strongest political movement, which was banned under Mubarak, and Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh, a moderate Islamist who broke with the Brotherhood and has emerged as a crossover candidate, with appeal among liberals and their polar opposites, the ultraconservative Islamists known as Salafis.

That lineup is already an explosive mix. The secular leaders of the revolution fear either Moussa or Shafiq would perpetuate elements of the old, corrupt police state they served. Some Islamists threaten a second uprising.

“Voting for these people means joining them in sin,” a Brotherhood cleric, Munir Gomaa, said in a religious edict. “It is not permitted by Islamic law … to bring back these faces that the revolution sought to remove.”

The latest polls show Moussa and Shafiq in the lead, followed by Abolfotoh and then Morsi, with up to half the voters undecided. But polling, highly restricted under Mubarak, is new to Egypt and its reliability is unknown.

Many doubt Morsi could be lagging so far behind, given the Brotherhood’s proven electoral strength; in the post-Mubarak parliamentary election, the first in which the Muslim Brotherhood was allowed to run openly, it captured nearly half the seats.

Any result brings its own tensions. A Morsi victory would mean the Brotherhood, holding the presidency and dominating Parliament, could set about Islamizing Egypt’s government. But it might act with its customary pragmatism to avoid angering liberals and, more important, the military and security forces.

A Shafiq or Moussa victory would likely spell confrontation between the president and the legislature. The Brotherhood insists that as the biggest faction, it gets to name a prime minister and form a government. But the interim constitution, unless it is rewritten, gives that right solidly to the president.

For most of his rule, Mubarak — like his predecessors — ran unopposed in yes-or-no referendums. Rampant fraud guaranteed ruling party victories in parliamentary elections. Even when, in 2005, Mubarak let challengers oppose him in elections, he ended up not only trouncing his liberal rival but jailing him.

Now he is 84, ailing and on trial on charges of complicity in the killing of hundreds of protesters during the 18-day uprising. But the downside of his departure is that Egyptian governance has been on hold for 15 months, with a series of military-appointed interim governments doing little to tackle the country’s problems.

Burst sewers go unrepaired, and unenforced laws allow illegal building to gobble up precious farmland. Crime has spiraled because police forces have largely left the streets, bruised and resentful after being beaten by protesters during the anti-Mubarak uprising.

Writing a new constitution has not begun, and the panel due to draft it has not even been formed. The new system’s shape has hardly been discussed — which powers will go to parliament, which to the president, how civil rights will be enshrined.

Almost nothing has been done on the major goal of the revolution: dismantling the Mubarak system that strangled political life. The security forces and domestic spy agencies that were the bedrock of the police state have not been reformed. Government ministries and agencies that for three decades operated largely through patronage and corruption remain unreformed. The military, through retired generals, pervades top state positions.

“These challenges will definitely not be resolved by the election or anytime soon thereafter,” said Egypt expert Denis Sullivan of Northeastern University, Illinois. “The election is a crucial step through the fire of Egypt’s ongoing, and still lengthy, transition toward a more participatory political system.”

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Associated Press correspondent Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report.

“We blame the military council for the bloodshed,” Islamist lawmaker Osama Yassin of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party told state television.

Around 1,000 protesters have been camped outside the Defense Ministry for days demanding an end to military rule. Most are supporters of disqualified presidential candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, an ultraconservative Islamist barred from running because his late mother held dual Egyptian-U.S. citizenship, making him ineligible under election laws.

But the violence, which broke out at dawn, prompted other factions to join in. Throughout the day, thousands marched to the site of the clashes in the Cairo district of Abbasiyah, protesting into the evening surrounded by armored vehicles and lines of riot police.

The fundamentalist Brotherhood, Egypt’s strongest movement, quickly moved to try to reap political gains from what has turned into a growing confrontation between it and the military. In a statement, it held the military responsible and warned that Egyptians would show “no mercy” if the generals did not meet what it called the revolution’s demands.

The Brotherhood urged a new mass protest on Friday in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to ensure the military hands over power by July 1 as promised.

The Brotherhood has been frustrated that its domination of parliament — where it holds nearly half the seats — has not translated into political power because the military has kept executive rule in its own hands.

Their increasingly bitter quarrel has centered on the military-backed government led by Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri. The Brotherhood has demanded that the military dismiss the government and allow the Islamist majority in parliament to form a new one. The generals have so far ignored the calls, and in response Parliament Speaker Saad el-Katatni, a Brotherhood leader, suspended the chamber’s sessions for a week on Sunday in protest.

The Brotherhood was also dealt a severe blow when a court last month suspended a 100-member panel formed by parliament to draft a new constitution. The panel was dominated by the Brotherhood and other Islamists, and the generals are pushing lawmakers to come up with an acceptable method of selection for a new panel.

The Brotherhood’s party leader, Mohammed Morsi, is one of three front-runners in the presidential race, along with former foreign minister Amr Moussa and a moderate Islamist, Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh. The first round of voting is set for May 23-24.

But many fear the military will try to retain a say in politics even after handing over power to the election winner.

Seeking to allay fears the military might push back the handover and cling to power, Chief of Staff Gen. Sami Anan said the military was ready to step down if the election produces an outright winner — a highly unlikely scenario. None of the 13 candidates is expected to secure at least 50 percent of the vote, meaning a runoff between the top two contenders is likely on June 16-17.

To protest Wednesday’s violence, several presidential candidates temporarily suspended their campaigns. Several key political parties, including the Brotherhood, also boycotted a meeting with the generals.

“It is not possible for us to talk now, while blood is being shed just meters away,” said Essam el-Erian, a senior figure in the Brotherhood’s political party.

Nevertheless, the ruling military council met with the other political factions to discuss efforts to create a new constitutional panel.

The violence also led to the cancellation of the first presidential debate, between Moussa and Abolfotoh, which had been scheduled for nationwide broadcast Thursday night.

In many ways, Wednesday’s clashes were a repeat of previous violence over the 14 months since Mubarak’s ouster — a peaceful, anti-military demonstration set upon by armed men as police or army troops looked on without intervening.

On Wednesday, the army and police did not move for hours to separate the two sides.

Of the 11 killed, nine died of gunshots to the head and two suffered stabbing wounds, according to medical officials and police reports. The gunshots to the head suggested sniper fire.

Theories of who is behind the attacks of the past year have varied, with many activists blaming plainclothes police, army troops or petty criminals working for the police. Others spoke of hard-core Mubarak loyalists or thugs hired by Mubarak-era businessmen who have been hurt by the overthrow of the regime.

Abbasiyah residents and the protesters traded accusations of tit-for-tat attacks and intimidation.

“Salafis attacked us and our houses. They sealed off our streets, checking our IDs and damaging our shops and pharmacies. We were afraid. I am forced to arm myself,” said one resident, driver Essam Bakheit. “They say we are thugs but I swear we are not. I was born here. They are liars.”

Mohammed Fathi, a bearded Abu Ismail supporter, said the protesters did not instigate the violence. “Every night since we held our first day of protest, thugs climb the bridge above us and shower us with bombs and gunshots,” he said.

The clashes broke out at dawn when assailants set upon several hundred protesters, security officials and witnesses said. The clashes resumed later in the morning, but then stopped again when lines of black-clad riot police and army troops backed by armored vehicles finally moved in to separate the two sides at noon.

“The army’s intervention has come hours too late,” Amnesty International spokesman Philip Luther said in a statement. “There appears to be no will within Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to prevent these tragic events.”

Sami Mahmoud, a 42-year-old Abbasiyah resident, said he was standing guard outside his building early Wednesday when a group of armed men roamed the streets shooting in the air and at balconies.

“Nobody protected us. The military and police didn’t intervene. They let us down,” he said.

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AP correspondents Maggie Michael and Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report.

El-Ganzouri served as prime minister during the 1990s under longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak, toppled in a popular uprising 14 months ago.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

CAIRO (AP) — Assailants attacked demonstrators gathered outside the Defense Ministry in Egypt’s capital to call for an end to military rule with rocks and firebombs, killing one protester and wounding 30, security officials said on Sunday.

They said the clashes broke out late Saturday when the unidentified assailants set upon the protesters, also hurling fireworks and empty glass bottles. Neither army troops or police attempted to stop the three-hour street battle, witnesses said. They also reported hearing gunshots.

The officials said the dead protester was a supporter of ultraconservative politician Hazem Salah Abu Ismail. Many of those outside the ministry were Abu Ismail supporters angered by his disqualification from running in next month’s presidential election. He was thrown out of the race because officials ruled his late mother had dual Egyptian-U.S. citizenship in violation of eligibility rules.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Demonstrations in Egypt have frequently been attacked by unidentified assailants, particularly protests which are near or outside the Defense Ministry.

Rights and pro-democracy activists have blamed the attacks on undercover police, petty criminals on the police payroll, plainclothes army soldiers or supporters of the ousted regime of authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak for the attacks.

Mubarak-era generals took over the reins of power when their patron stepped down 14 months ago in the face of a popular uprising. Opposition to their rule has built up over the last year after they were blamed for killing protesters, jailing critics of their rule and putting at least 10,000 civilians on trial before military tribunals. They have also launched a systematic campaign to undermine the youth groups credited with Mubarak’s stunning ouster, using the state media to portray them as irresponsible and linked to foreign powers.